Alerts In Effect

Contact Us

International Affairs Program

At Yosemite National Park, we recognize our responsibility as one of the oldest and most complex parks in the United States to share the park's extensive knowledge. The idea of national parks—federally owned land set aside to protect natural and cultural resources—was born with the Yosemite Grant 150 years ago. Since that time, the idea has spread around the world. Yosemite is part of a global community of protected areas that share a mission and a commitment to preserve natural and cultural resources for the future.

The Call to Action, a nationwide initiative to build the future of the NPS, identified themes important to maintaining the agencies relevancy and continued adaptation to contemporary challenges. The Call to Action directs individual parks to adopt a landscape-scale approach to partnerships, as many of the emerging challenges parks are facing involve processes that originate outside of the boundaries of national parks. Climate change is a paramount example and clearly calls for landscape-scale planning and coordination with parks and other protected areas in order to maintain biodiversity and healthy ecosystems. Working with the international conservation community through sister park relationships and technical exchanges builds a foundation for these larger levels of collaboration and problem solving.